Garage Door Opener Questions

My garage door is acting strange, and it's about 14 years old, so I plan to
replace it. Can someone help with the following questions?
1. What brands do you recommend?
2. Where's the best place to buy (Cosco, Home Depot, Sears, etc)?
3. How many horsepower do I need?
I have a 2-car garage, with a door that rolls up, sheet metal, no insulation.
In case anybody recommends fixing a 14 year old garage door rather than
replacing, here's the symptoms (it's a Stanley brand opener with chain drive):
A couple of days ago, the door started not shutting all the way. The first day
it left a 1" gap, then the 2nd day about 2". On the 3rd day, when I was
closing it, it only closed half way and then opened again, and it opened beyond
the stop and the door actually hit the drive mechanism but I stopped it before
it damaged the door. Can this type of problem be a simple re-calibration
problem? I doubt it, and i'm afraid i'll damage the door or cause an unsafe
situation if i just try to mess with it until it "seems" to work.
thanks!
Paul

Those Stanley operators are junk. The tube rail was a bad idea then,
and still is. The best opener is made by Chamberlain (lift-Master,
Craftsman). The Lift-Master is preferable because it has a one piece
rail.
It sounds like the limit mechanism in your Stanley is toast.
-Graham
Remove the 'snails' from my email

Chalk up another one for Chamberlain and those that it sells under other names,
listed here. This is what my door man said to me when I asked him the same
thing.
He gave me a thumbs down on extra horsepower openers (I guess provided you have a
fairly normal sized door) if your opener and door were set up correctly. He gave
a
thumbs up to belt drive units and a thumbs down to Genie screw drive (it is a
screw
drive that they offer, correct?) He didn't like Genie in particular in all
models,
especially the screw drive models, citing noise developing on these as they aged.
Hope this helps,
Danny
"G. Morgan" wrote:

Some people put them in and forget them.
The noise they make as their lubrication fails reminds them that routine
lube is a good thing.
Might also apply to their sex life too.
He didn't like Genie in particular in all models,

Faced with the same situation a few years ago I opted to go with
OverHead Door's "Phantom" units (perhaps owned/made by Alliance).
These units are the belt drive units and I can honestly say they are
the quietes door openers I've ever heard. Our doors are located
directly under the master bedroom and I can actually sneak out in the
early AM without waking my spouse.

You ain't heard nothing yet until you have heard a Marantec "MacLift"
opener. My new house has one and it is silent. DC motor with programmable
acceleration/deceleration rates, LED troubleshooting, etc.
This is one damn nice opener!

the genie screwdrives need to be lubed a bit after a while (I did it
after a year) This makes them a lot more quiet.
they sell kits at HD with cold and hot weather grease and a spraycan
for the hinges.
wrote:

Sure - I had the exact same problem until yesterday (I just had my old
opener replaced).

Liftmaster.
None of the above. Get it from a reputable garage door company (the same
people that install the doors generally sell and install the openers) and
get them to install it for you. The cost of installation is fairly low
(it cost me $90CDN) and it's one less pain in the butt do do yourself.

It depends on how big the door is - check with a garage door company and
they'll be able to tell you. For most 2-car garages, a 1/2 horsepower
opener is plenty.

Don't fix it - it's not worth the effort.

The limiting mechanism (the gizmo that determines how far down the door
will go) is shot. It's not something worth repairing (it's the exact
same problem I had with our old opener).

snipped-for-privacy@aol.com > I reccomend Sears unless you have a lift master
dealer nearby, both made by chamberlain but the dealer models are 1 pc
rails and upgraded noise suppression and heavier angle iron make it an
even smoother operator.a 1/2 hp is normally used for a doublewide door
- the "steel belted" drive systems are really quiet.

1st guess: the inconsistent closed door position is normally the
mounting system above the door is pulling free. typical scenario is
2x4 above door for opener mounting bracket is nailed in with too few
or too small nails and it starts pulling free (i use 5/16 x 3.5" lag
bolts) - dont be surprised to find opener only held in place by
ceiling mounts and free to move forward or backward opposite motion of
your door -this will shorten or lengthen the usable portion of rail
and change both endpoints.
2nd guess. open cover -look at proportional sensors - the open close
position dials set a stationary elec contact for each and a worm gear
taps off main drive with a moving contactor that rides back and forth
between the stationary contacts -look to see if some of the white
grease from gears has gotten on the contacts and clean off - test
while open should see door stop in current direction when the moving
contact touches the stationary.
I have opener problem faq here
http://home.comcast.net/~froarty572/openfaq.htm

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